R&D Software Engineer Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Colorado
R&D software engineer visa sponsorship jobs in Colorado are concentrated in the Denver metro, Boulder, and Colorado Springs, where employers like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Ball Aerospace, and fast-growing tech firms along the US-36 corridor actively hire and sponsor international engineers building cutting-edge software for defense, aerospace, and commercial technology.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
From Fivetran’s founding until now, our mission has remained the same: to make access to data as simple and reliable as electricity. With Fivetran, customer data arrives in their warehouses, canonical and ready to query, with no engineering or maintenance required. We’re proud that more organizations continue to leverage our technology every day to become truly data-driven.
About us
Fivetran and dbt Labs are bringing together two industry-leading companies with a shared mission: helping organizations unlock the full value of their data. Together, we’re delivering the data infrastructure layer that helps organizations move, transform, and trust their data — from the moment data moves, through every transformation, to the context teams and AI systems rely on. Fivetran helps organizations automate data movement across the systems, clouds, engines, and tools they rely on. dbt Labs pioneered analytics engineering, helping teams transform data into reliable, governed insights. Together, we support thousands of organizations as they build a trusted foundation for analytics, AI, and better business decisions. As we bring our teams and technology together, we’re building on the strengths of both companies while continuing to deliver the products and experiences our customers know and trust. It’s an exciting time to join us: we’re creating a company with the scale, talent, and technology to help more organizations put their data to work with greater speed, confidence, and impact. During this transition period, you may see references to both Fivetran and dbt Labs throughout our recruiting process as we integrate our teams, systems, and career sites.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Fivetran and dbt are building the open data infrastructure that powers AI agents you can trust. Fivetran is looking for a Staff R&D Software Engineer to join our fast-growing Fivetran AI team. Your data stack was built for humans — but agents are the new primary data consumers, and they have fundamentally different requirements. Agents can’t intuit context; it must be explicitly codified, governed, and traceable. We’re building the governed context layer that solves this problem: Agents Schema, an open standard for storing agent-ready context directly in the customer’s own data warehouse, and Context Builder, the managed service that keeps it filled and fresh. This role goes well beyond standard engineering. You’ll research emerging techniques in the fast-moving AI landscape and bring real product and market understanding to decide which ideas are worth pursuing — and then you’ll take what you’ve learned and ship it as production software. We’re looking for a true generalist who is willing and able to wear whatever hat the moment calls for: prototyping a new retrieval technique one week, hardening a backend service the next, then doing SRE or QA work when the team needs it. At this level, you’re expected to be a trusted expert beyond your own team — defining technical direction that other teams build on, taking high-level direction and turning it into concrete plans with a high degree of independence, and using sound judgment to decide what deserves your attention. Fivetran AI operates like a startup within Fivetran, and we need engineers who thrive on that range and ambiguity rather than staying in one lane. Fivetran is the epitome of data-driven development — our engineering team is focused on building a world class product that:
- Builds Infrastructure Agents Can Trust — join our mission to deliver the governed context layer that AI agents depend on: accurate semantic definitions, traceable lineage, data contracts, and auditable history baked in from the start.
- Embraces Open Standards — help build portable, interoperable data infrastructure: Agents Schema, open formats (Iceberg, Delta Lake), MCP-native interfaces, and connector skills that work with any model and any compute.
- Scales Without Breaking — work to make Fivetran AI efficient at agent scale, where unit costs deflate as volume grows and context retrieval is fast, accurate, and cost-controlled. We emphasize using no-nonsense tools and take great pride in the simplicity and effectiveness of the systems we build. Our back-end is built on Java, Python, Postgres, and Kubernetes, and our front-end is built on React and TypeScript. This is a full-time hybrid position based out of our Denver, CO office. Our hybrid work model offers a blend of remote flexibility and in-person collaboration, including two days in the office each week to connect and build as a team.
Technologies You’ll Use
Python, Java, SQL, dbt, LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini), vector databases, BigQuery / Snowflake / Databricks, MCP protocol, React, TypeScript, Kubernetes
What You’ll Do
- Research emerging techniques in retrieval, reasoning, and agentic AI, and decide what’s actually worth pursuing for Fivetran AI’s roadmap — then convince others
- Prototype new ideas quickly, then take the ones that prove out and turn them into shipped, production-grade features
- Define technical direction that spans multiple teams within Fivetran AI, ensuring architecture decisions made in one area don’t create problems in another
- Build and maintain both back-end and front-end systems for the Fivetran AI product — from Agents Schema pipelines to the Context Catalog UI
- Drive the AISQL capability forward: natural language to SQL grounded in dbt metric definitions, executed natively against the warehouse
- Take ownership of production reliability across the platform: on-call rotation, incident response, and SRE work to keep the system trustworthy at scale
- Set the bar for testing and QA practices, and do hands-on QA work yourself when it matters most
- Use coding agents to automate the repetitive parts of the job, freeing up time for the research and design work that needs a human
- Take high-level direction from product and leadership and independently define and execute the concrete plan to get there
- Mentor other engineers and raise the technical bar across the Fivetran AI team
- Contribute to hiring by participating in and helping shape the interview process
Skills We’re Looking For
- 8+ years of programming experience across Python and/or Java, with the ability to move fluidly between back-end and front-end work
- Considered a trusted expert beyond your own team, able to exert influence and define technical direction across multiple teams
- Comfortable reading AI/ML research and turning promising findings into working prototypes, then production systems
- Strong product and market awareness — able to judge which emerging techniques are worth building versus which are hype
- Track record of taking ambiguous, high-level direction and independently defining and executing the concrete work to deliver it
- Experience with SQL and data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, or similar)
- Genuine willingness to work across the full stack: research, backend, frontend, SRE, and QA, as the team’s needs demand
- Writes well-structured, performant code and can dive into unfamiliar codebases to suggest improvements
- Experience using coding agents or similar AI tooling to speed up day-to-day engineering work
- Demonstrated ability to mentor other engineers and influence technical decisions beyond your immediate team
- Thrives in a startup-like environment with shifting priorities and a high degree of ownership
Bonus Skills
- Experience with LLM-powered applications — RAG pipelines, embeddings, evaluation frameworks, or agent frameworks
- Familiarity with semantic layers — dbt, LookML, Sigma, or similar
- Experience with the MCP (Model Context Protocol) ecosystem or building AI agent integrations
- Background in site reliability engineering — monitoring, alerting, incident response
- Experience in data processing (ETL, ELT) and/or building data connectors
- Experienced working in a cloud environment utilizing AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, or Docker
- Contributions to open source AI or data projects
COMPENSATION
The compensation range displayed on this job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire compensation for the target position and level, and may include sales incentives or target bonuses depending on the role. Our compensation ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Our job titles may span more than one career level. Within the range, individual compensation is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, relevant education or training, business need, market demands. The compensation range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. Your recruiter can share more about the specific compensation range for your location during the hiring process.
Denver Pay Range $183,711—$229,638.75 USD
Perks And Benefits
- 100% employer-paid medical insurance
- Generous paid time-off policy (PTO), plus paid sick time, inclusive parental leave policy, holidays (including a year end Global Week of Rest), and volunteer days off
- RSU stock grants*
- Professional development and training opportunities
- Company virtual happy hours, free food, and fun team-building activities
- Monthly cell phone stipend
- Access to an innovative mental health support platform that offers personalized care and resources in areas such as: therapy, coaching, and self-guided mindfulness exercises for all covered employees and their covered dependents.
*May vary by country and worker type - please reach out to your recruiter for more information.
We’re honored to be valued at over $5.6 billion, but more importantly, we’re proud of our core values of Get Stuck In, Do the Right Thing, and One Team, One Dream. Read about us in Forbes. Fivetran brings together high-quality talent across the globe to make data access as easy and reliable as electricity for our customers. We value and recognize that our customers benefit from having innovative teams made of people from many backgrounds, experiences, and identities. Fivetran promotes diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging through attracting, recruiting, developing, and retaining a diverse workforce, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it helps us build a world-class company to better serve our customers, our people and our communities.
To learn more about Fivetran’s culture and what it’s like to be part of the team, click here and enjoy our video. To learn more about our candidate privacy policy, you can read our statement here.
We are committed to ensuring that all candidates have an equal opportunity to participate in our interview process. If you require accommodations at any stage of the process due to a disability, medical condition, or any other circumstance, please don't hesitate to submit your request by filling out this form. We will work with you to provide reasonable accommodations to facilitate your participation and ensure a fair and accessible interview experience. Your request and any information provided will be kept confidential and will not impact your candidacy. We look forward to hearing from you and accommodating your needs to the best of our ability.
INTRODUCTION
From Fivetran’s founding until now, our mission has remained the same: to make access to data as simple and reliable as electricity. With Fivetran, customer data arrives in their warehouses, canonical and ready to query, with no engineering or maintenance required. We’re proud that more organizations continue to leverage our technology every day to become truly data-driven.
About us
Fivetran and dbt Labs are bringing together two industry-leading companies with a shared mission: helping organizations unlock the full value of their data. Together, we’re delivering the data infrastructure layer that helps organizations move, transform, and trust their data — from the moment data moves, through every transformation, to the context teams and AI systems rely on. Fivetran helps organizations automate data movement across the systems, clouds, engines, and tools they rely on. dbt Labs pioneered analytics engineering, helping teams transform data into reliable, governed insights. Together, we support thousands of organizations as they build a trusted foundation for analytics, AI, and better business decisions. As we bring our teams and technology together, we’re building on the strengths of both companies while continuing to deliver the products and experiences our customers know and trust. It’s an exciting time to join us: we’re creating a company with the scale, talent, and technology to help more organizations put their data to work with greater speed, confidence, and impact. During this transition period, you may see references to both Fivetran and dbt Labs throughout our recruiting process as we integrate our teams, systems, and career sites.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Fivetran and dbt are building the open data infrastructure that powers AI agents you can trust. Fivetran is looking for a Staff R&D Software Engineer to join our fast-growing Fivetran AI team. Your data stack was built for humans — but agents are the new primary data consumers, and they have fundamentally different requirements. Agents can’t intuit context; it must be explicitly codified, governed, and traceable. We’re building the governed context layer that solves this problem: Agents Schema, an open standard for storing agent-ready context directly in the customer’s own data warehouse, and Context Builder, the managed service that keeps it filled and fresh. This role goes well beyond standard engineering. You’ll research emerging techniques in the fast-moving AI landscape and bring real product and market understanding to decide which ideas are worth pursuing — and then you’ll take what you’ve learned and ship it as production software. We’re looking for a true generalist who is willing and able to wear whatever hat the moment calls for: prototyping a new retrieval technique one week, hardening a backend service the next, then doing SRE or QA work when the team needs it. At this level, you’re expected to be a trusted expert beyond your own team — defining technical direction that other teams build on, taking high-level direction and turning it into concrete plans with a high degree of independence, and using sound judgment to decide what deserves your attention. Fivetran AI operates like a startup within Fivetran, and we need engineers who thrive on that range and ambiguity rather than staying in one lane. Fivetran is the epitome of data-driven development — our engineering team is focused on building a world class product that:
- Builds Infrastructure Agents Can Trust — join our mission to deliver the governed context layer that AI agents depend on: accurate semantic definitions, traceable lineage, data contracts, and auditable history baked in from the start.
- Embraces Open Standards — help build portable, interoperable data infrastructure: Agents Schema, open formats (Iceberg, Delta Lake), MCP-native interfaces, and connector skills that work with any model and any compute.
- Scales Without Breaking — work to make Fivetran AI efficient at agent scale, where unit costs deflate as volume grows and context retrieval is fast, accurate, and cost-controlled. We emphasize using no-nonsense tools and take great pride in the simplicity and effectiveness of the systems we build. Our back-end is built on Java, Python, Postgres, and Kubernetes, and our front-end is built on React and TypeScript. This is a full-time hybrid position based out of our Denver, CO office. Our hybrid work model offers a blend of remote flexibility and in-person collaboration, including two days in the office each week to connect and build as a team.
Technologies You’ll Use
Python, Java, SQL, dbt, LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini), vector databases, BigQuery / Snowflake / Databricks, MCP protocol, React, TypeScript, Kubernetes
What You’ll Do
- Research emerging techniques in retrieval, reasoning, and agentic AI, and decide what’s actually worth pursuing for Fivetran AI’s roadmap — then convince others
- Prototype new ideas quickly, then take the ones that prove out and turn them into shipped, production-grade features
- Define technical direction that spans multiple teams within Fivetran AI, ensuring architecture decisions made in one area don’t create problems in another
- Build and maintain both back-end and front-end systems for the Fivetran AI product — from Agents Schema pipelines to the Context Catalog UI
- Drive the AISQL capability forward: natural language to SQL grounded in dbt metric definitions, executed natively against the warehouse
- Take ownership of production reliability across the platform: on-call rotation, incident response, and SRE work to keep the system trustworthy at scale
- Set the bar for testing and QA practices, and do hands-on QA work yourself when it matters most
- Use coding agents to automate the repetitive parts of the job, freeing up time for the research and design work that needs a human
- Take high-level direction from product and leadership and independently define and execute the concrete plan to get there
- Mentor other engineers and raise the technical bar across the Fivetran AI team
- Contribute to hiring by participating in and helping shape the interview process
Skills We’re Looking For
- 8+ years of programming experience across Python and/or Java, with the ability to move fluidly between back-end and front-end work
- Considered a trusted expert beyond your own team, able to exert influence and define technical direction across multiple teams
- Comfortable reading AI/ML research and turning promising findings into working prototypes, then production systems
- Strong product and market awareness — able to judge which emerging techniques are worth building versus which are hype
- Track record of taking ambiguous, high-level direction and independently defining and executing the concrete work to deliver it
- Experience with SQL and data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, or similar)
- Genuine willingness to work across the full stack: research, backend, frontend, SRE, and QA, as the team’s needs demand
- Writes well-structured, performant code and can dive into unfamiliar codebases to suggest improvements
- Experience using coding agents or similar AI tooling to speed up day-to-day engineering work
- Demonstrated ability to mentor other engineers and influence technical decisions beyond your immediate team
- Thrives in a startup-like environment with shifting priorities and a high degree of ownership
Bonus Skills
- Experience with LLM-powered applications — RAG pipelines, embeddings, evaluation frameworks, or agent frameworks
- Familiarity with semantic layers — dbt, LookML, Sigma, or similar
- Experience with the MCP (Model Context Protocol) ecosystem or building AI agent integrations
- Background in site reliability engineering — monitoring, alerting, incident response
- Experience in data processing (ETL, ELT) and/or building data connectors
- Experienced working in a cloud environment utilizing AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, or Docker
- Contributions to open source AI or data projects
COMPENSATION
The compensation range displayed on this job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire compensation for the target position and level, and may include sales incentives or target bonuses depending on the role. Our compensation ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Our job titles may span more than one career level. Within the range, individual compensation is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, relevant education or training, business need, market demands. The compensation range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. Your recruiter can share more about the specific compensation range for your location during the hiring process.
Denver Pay Range $183,711—$229,638.75 USD
Perks And Benefits
- 100% employer-paid medical insurance
- Generous paid time-off policy (PTO), plus paid sick time, inclusive parental leave policy, holidays (including a year end Global Week of Rest), and volunteer days off
- RSU stock grants*
- Professional development and training opportunities
- Company virtual happy hours, free food, and fun team-building activities
- Monthly cell phone stipend
- Access to an innovative mental health support platform that offers personalized care and resources in areas such as: therapy, coaching, and self-guided mindfulness exercises for all covered employees and their covered dependents.
*May vary by country and worker type - please reach out to your recruiter for more information.
We’re honored to be valued at over $5.6 billion, but more importantly, we’re proud of our core values of Get Stuck In, Do the Right Thing, and One Team, One Dream. Read about us in Forbes. Fivetran brings together high-quality talent across the globe to make data access as easy and reliable as electricity for our customers. We value and recognize that our customers benefit from having innovative teams made of people from many backgrounds, experiences, and identities. Fivetran promotes diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging through attracting, recruiting, developing, and retaining a diverse workforce, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it helps us build a world-class company to better serve our customers, our people and our communities.
To learn more about Fivetran’s culture and what it’s like to be part of the team, click here and enjoy our video. To learn more about our candidate privacy policy, you can read our statement here.
We are committed to ensuring that all candidates have an equal opportunity to participate in our interview process. If you require accommodations at any stage of the process due to a disability, medical condition, or any other circumstance, please don't hesitate to submit your request by filling out this form. We will work with you to provide reasonable accommodations to facilitate your participation and ensure a fair and accessible interview experience. Your request and any information provided will be kept confidential and will not impact your candidacy. We look forward to hearing from you and accommodating your needs to the best of our ability.
R&D Software Engineer Job Roles in Colorado
See all 89+ R&D Software Engineer Jobs in Colorado
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Search R&D Software Engineer Jobs in ColoradoR&D Software Engineer Jobs in Colorado: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for r&d software engineers in Colorado?
Colorado's defense and aerospace sector is a major source of sponsorship. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Intelligence and Space, Ball Aerospace, and L3Harris have significant engineering operations in the Denver and Colorado Springs areas. On the commercial tech side, companies like Palantir, Zayo Group, and numerous Boulder-based software startups have filed Labor Condition Applications for R&D software engineering roles. Federal contractor presence means many roles require security clearances, which can affect sponsorship timelines.
Which visa types realistically apply to r&d software engineer roles in Colorado?
R&D software engineering roles in Colorado qualify as specialty occupations, making the H-1B visa the most common path. H-1B status is granted for up to three years, extendable to six, and is subject to an annual cap and selection process. Australian citizens can pursue the E-3 visa, which has its own annual allocation and no lottery. Canadian and Mexican citizens may qualify under TN visa status as engineers. Eligible F-1 graduates can use OPT or STEM OPT while employers pursue longer-term sponsorship. EB-2 and EB-3 green card pathways are also available for permanent residence.
How to find r&d software engineer visa sponsorship jobs in Colorado?
Migrate Mate lists R&D software engineer positions from Colorado employers with verified visa sponsorship history, searchable by city and role. Because Colorado's R&D hiring spans defense contractors in Colorado Springs, aerospace firms in Littleton, and software companies in Boulder and Denver, filtering by location on Migrate Mate helps identify which employers are actively sponsoring in each corridor rather than sorting through general postings.
Which cities in Colorado have the most r&d software engineer sponsorship jobs?
Denver and its inner suburbs, particularly Westminster and Broomfield along the US-36 tech corridor, generate the highest volume of R&D software engineering sponsorship activity. Boulder hosts a dense cluster of software and deep-tech companies, many connected to the University of Colorado and NIST. Colorado Springs has strong defense and cybersecurity R&D demand, driven by the proximity to military installations and contractors. Fort Collins also has an emerging engineering hiring base tied to Colorado State University research partnerships.
Are there state-specific factors that affect visa sponsorship for r&d software engineers in Colorado?
Colorado's heavy concentration of federal contractors and defense primes means many R&D roles carry security clearance requirements, which can complicate or delay sponsorship for international candidates, as clearances are generally restricted to U.S. citizens or permanent residents. However, the commercial and university-adjacent tech sectors in Boulder and Denver operate without those restrictions. Colorado State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder produce pipeline talent and partner with regional employers who have established sponsorship programs for international engineering graduates.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored r&d software engineer jobs in Colorado?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.